THE BIBLICAL PROGRAM OF STUDY

2 Timothy 3:10-11 (KJV)

But thou hast fully known my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, charity, patience,

Persecutions, afflictions, which came unto me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra; what persecutions I endured: but out of them all the Lord delivered me.

The Apostle Paul is the “premier Bible teacher” and the letters of First and Second Timothy are in many respects, the models of how he taught Bible teachers to be Bible teachers.

·   He has given him some instruction on the kind of men he should teach, and

·   He has warned him about the kinds of hurdles those preachers would face

·   He has directed him about how to deal with those who preach false doctrine

In these two short verses Paul outlines those things he taught and those things he preached (as well as those things he demonstrated by his example) so thoroughly that he could say to Timothy “thou hast fully known” them.

There are nine things mentioned.

I have attempted to divide them into three groups.[1]

The first category I will call,

*I. THEOLOGY

The word “theology” means properly the study of God but it has spilled over into just about the study of everything religious.

I place two of the list into this camp

A. Doctrine

The word doctrine means teaching.

It’s like saying “you know what I taught.”

A lot of Christianity today doesn’t want to really be taught anything.

·   They want to be inspired

·   They want to be motivated

·   They want to be encouraged

·   They want to be consoled – sometimes even

·   They just want to be entertained

Paul told Timothy, I have taught you fully all that I have taught you.

Listen, don’t shy from teaching.

It is true that the teaching of doctrine does divide Christians.

That’s because we all see through a glass darkly and we don’t all see things in the Bible exactly the same.

·   The answer is not to give up studying those things.

·   The answer is to study them all the more.

You need something more than little “happy thoughts” when you come to church.

You need to be taught the Bible so thoroughly that you are convinced of them.

To that end, I give the second of the nine,

B. Faith

The word faith means, “conviction.”

It has to do with believing something so thoroughly that it determines how you behave.

·   Doctrine is the Bible teaching we know

·   Faith is the Bible teaching we live

When I was in welding school, we had classroom time and we had lab time.

In the classroom,

·   They showed us pictures of angles the welding rod should be at in relation to the metal.

·   They taught us about voltage and amperage and how each plays a part in welding

·   They taught us about positive and negative polarity and when each one is applied

But the truth is, I could have learned all of that and never been able to weld.

Sooner or later I had to grab hold of a stinger and start practicing.

·   Doctrine is the classroom

·   Faith is the practicing

Paul gave Timothy lots of both.

My second category is,

*II. ECCLESIOLOGY

This is just one part of theology, the study of the church.

I placed three of the nine here:

A. Manner of life

I placed this one here because of 

1 Timothy 3:15 (KJV)

But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.

Paul told Timothy, “I have taught you how to behave in the church.”

It may not be the only thing Paul meant by “manner of life” but it must surely have been of thing and perhaps the most important thing.

Our behavior in church is a reflection

·   On the Lord

·   On our church

·   On our family

·   On our upbringing

·   On our relationship with the Lord

·   On our relationship with our pastor even

·   On whether or not we are saved[2]

B. Purpose

I place this here because of the Great Commission,

Matthew 28:18-20 (KJV)

And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.

Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:

Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

No church need write a mission statement. Jesus did that for us

What we need is to:

·   Keep in front of our eyes

·   Be instructed on what it means and

·   Be challenged to observe all that it is

You have heard the story about the first Coast Guard crew haven’t you?

My understanding is that it was a private group of local people who saw the need to help their fishermen who got in trouble.

A group of experienced seaman organized this rescue team who practiced and trained so they could be a real help to those who would have otherwise perished at sea.

And they were successful

So successful that all sorts of people wanted to be members of the rescue team.

The problem was that many of the new members didn’t want to risk their lives in an actual rescue.

Soon enough the original heroes all died off and there were so many of those that didn’t want to do actual rescues that they voted the club not do them anymore. They forgot their purpose.

Some churches have done that same thing.

·   They have forgotten their purpose.

·   They no longer even remember what they were originally organized to do.

C. Charity

I chose to place this one of the nine under ecclesiology because of,

1 Corinthians 8:1 (KJV)

Now as touching things offered unto idols, we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifieth.

According to the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE), This is word charity is a brand new word, never seen in any Greek writing before this verse but found in 115 places in the New Testament. It is not found in any secular writings.

It is love, but it is a particular type of love, that which a Christian has for his or her church.

Christians who understand Jesus, love their church.

The third category is

*III. ANTHROPOLOGY

That’s the study of man.

The secular world has an anthropology that is all messed up. They try to figure out how man came in to being and evolved outside of God.

Biblical anthropology is the study of man as he is described in the Bible.

Under this we have the last four of the nine. Timothy fully learned these lessons in two ways:

·   He would have observed them in Paul

·   He would have experienced them in his own ministry

The swimming teacher can show you how to swim but sooner or later you have to get in the water and sink or swim.

Timothy observed Paul’s ministry – but then Paul left Timothy oftentimes to do ministry.

A. Longsuffering

Define this “perseverance.”

Ministry is accomplished over the long haul.

People’s lives are impacted over long term ministry.

B. Patience

This is steadiness in trials.

Paul never quit and Timothy knew it.

Paul never waivered in what he believed and in what he did.

·   He did get discouraged from time to time

·   He could be encouraged by friends who were faithful

But he never veered away from the path God had laid for him.

C. Persecutions and Afflictions

I put these two together

Persecutions is what his enemies did to Paul

Afflictions are what resulted from the persecutions

Timothy witnessed those persecutions and afflictions and, no doubt experienced many of them too.

*I see here what I think is a full and well rounded program of Biblical study:

·   The study of God and the things of God

·   The study of the church and what makes it work and

·   The study of man and how he lives in faith

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[1] I said I attempted. I did not say I was entirely successful.

[2] We are not saved by how we behave but our behavior is an indicator whether our profession of salvation is genuine.